Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1887-04-16
anyway II was never to see Mark any more; but

ANYWAY, II was never to see Mark any more; but
! then thai was no new feeling
DO what 1 would, my thoughts would foilos
Mars was he there alone in his fathers house:
] Hae ne hiding gayiy round the country, visiting
other houses, other girls happier than j, hearing
music Joining in laughter? OR was he travelling
+ on In distant regions, seeing new sights and for
getting the old, forgetting the past and me In
/ ITesh experience? or was he sitting at home
/ there ID the long dim room whose windows looked
throu3h the pine-wood vista over the broad valley
: and away TO the blue mountains? No one told
me; no one ever yentured to mention his name IL
l ne. But somehow placed him there In the long
! diTn room, and there my fancy kept following him
and towering about him. Now he sat by the IRE.
side there, In the deep chair, reading; now he was
busy with maps and pictures at the table; now, Id
I the big bay, the moonlight, that had pale green
reflections IN IL east up from the emerald depths
tnat, In reality, busy about the place ana III:
affairs of one sort or another, and doing his best
70 I've and to forget, he was very nttie
! him; and 1t grew strangely sweet to me,
/ and every moment when could sit down alone
/ my fancy took me and sat down In that room, OF
( else / wandered up and down the great staircase
/ and the hall where his peoples portraits hung
but always came back az ain TO the hearth OF the
long dim room II 1t were day, to the dancing fire
cast shadows there ii 1t were night, and the place
/ grew dearer and dearer to me every hour, and
upbrafded myself in thoughts bitter for speech
I Tor the ioiiy and angry temper that had shut me
| out OF IL, that had drawn comparison between
that ancient lofty place and this low and treSome
stretch OF nothing but common grass lands,
between that manor and this plain farm house,
although in real truth my farmhouse was quite
/ It's equal at any other time. But the new year
came in without sign from Mark or sign from
me; and the country was white with snow, and
the river Ice was strong enough TO bear up SedgeS
ana Teams 81 horses ana the iceboats went spnt-
llng the wind before them. 1t all made no ODDS 10
me. Was completely wretehed. didn't pretend
10 20 TO church or 20 any OF the society meetings.
and II the SawyerS and WellSeS came to me, |
suppose treated them properly-I'm sure don't
knoW-but l never set my foot outdoors the
winter long.
f;Irfo 10
snow fell as never remembered II before The
drifts seemed To wall us in from all the world. "a
hElng TOMB, used 10 murmur. 81 wish 1t We're
tc,ho indeed, and I'm my last Sleep" At twenty,
one can be SO very miserable; and at thirty II one
lives so long, one can be 80 pr0fane to laugh at
it.
Sometimes Bryan and Thomas brought word of
tine outside regions. OF the way people up-riVer
were sleigh-riding over the tops of fences of the
immense snowfall in the mountains and the fears
Oi what would happen from 1t in the spring IL there
should be an early thaW. And / remembered
some words that Mark used to quote from play
he had seen, when this snow melteth there shall
come flood" 1 didn't care how many floods
came.
And So with storm after storm, the winter wore
away, Jane and Maria at their housekeeping
tasks, and busy with my rug-making, hooking
strips Of woOllen cloth through coffee-bags not
because the house was not full of them, but be-
cause had nothing better TO do For couldn't
read; II tried my eyes swami and / could not
make Out a word OF what IL was all about And
people went 3ud came like shadows; and the days
had grown short, and now they grew long, and
WhaI did IL all matter TO me?
March had come but without sign of the WIN
terS breaking; and then at last April lOitered on
ana April suns began to do their work; and grad
ually the drifts OF snow in the lanes and in the
fedS began 20 settle, and TO lessen and melt and dis
appear. And Bryan and Thomas had to talk OF
the broOdng hens and watch for the breaking up
OF the river and discuss the chance of the early
rye and the new calves and the hiring OF the
spring hands. and il was all emptiness. And one
day Ii began to snow, and the snow turned to
rain, and it rained that day and rained in rivers
r.Iin
had rained week-a long, dreary week that babe
fair To end only in deIuge And on Saturday the
sun came out warm; and when L looked, the
CrocuSeo bl00med under the windows, and Thomas
said II was very like the May flowers were OPEN
ing in the woods, If anybody could get 10 them
Tor the roads all being under water although the
river was still locked in solid Ice from shore to
shore. And in the late afternoon OF the second
day OF this same sweet sunshine and south wind
as We sat there, Jane and ], Maria ran in and
said there was water In the cellar, as much as six
inches.
"That is nothing" said l. Il should think
there would be, after such melting OF snow and
such raining OF torrents
Its more likely it's the land sucking up the
river, miss, said Maria " The rivers just raging
full under its ice coat, shouldn't wonder and Is
letting ITSELF out through the land" And as she
spoke there came great shock md thrill, a rum
.'Great mercy, miss cried Jane sit's the ice
cracking and rending from. shore to shore. 1never
heard the like before, many springs as Eve lived
sound came agaln-he sound OF great guns the
trembling OF an earthquake.
II Is an earthquake, said l. 1T must be. But
That's no earthquake" cried Jane. And then
We sat there an hour or more, looking out on the
river ana listening 10 the sounds and wondering
and telling stories OF earthquakes and hardshipS
and what not, curdling our blood as we talked
And at last Thomas came in; he had been down
the lane 10 the highway, and person who had
come from up country had told him that the reshet
was on the river, and the high water had carried
away Fords mills. dozen miles above us.
'.But how IL do thaIe' said can
there be a freshet where it's all ice?"
just because it is all ice, miss, said Thomas.
river down here is giving the water no outlet.
Half the country between here and there'lI be
alioat before morning" An then came the duh
roar and rumble, the shock the thrill the explo-
SiOa once more.
why this is terrible said I. SIT seems as II
elemental things were at work; If the earth was
splitting and opening" And while We waited and
shivered as one after another OF the great explo-
sions came, the door opened so quickly as TO make
US start and Mrs. sawyer ran in her face as white
as ashes.
"A messenger has just gone galloping by she
gaSped. My husband met him. He says the dam
at The falls has been carried away, and the MAYOR
or Fel!stoWn has sent word by him to the MAYOR of
Hafooroar to look Olt for his bridges"
And the explosions" said Bryan. joining US,
Tor We were all looking out now, in the late tWi.
light at the long glass door opening on the river
above which a purpling mist was hung, SIS the
FdilSJoWn people trying to break I'D the lee below
them with dynamite. guess we are in for il.
Il don't know what we are going to do, cried
MIS-. Sawyer. ''Of course the moment the lee
breaks up and goes sweeping down it will make
for the first outlet, and that is On these low
grass landa-runhlng in here on the very first
low shore along the whole course Of the river
IL Is terrifying II IL were only daylight WOuldnt
mind II 80 much. We could see our way We
could see what was coming. We should know
where We were and what TO do. But In the dark,
You had better come over TO our house, Nan, and
whatever We do We will all do together Merciful
powers. what was that?-
IL was only the wind coming up-that strong
sweet south wind. IL had broken a bough frOIn
the old elm that had fallen On the house and ar
the same moment the last explosion OF the dyna
mite sounded. But it was enough. Mrs Saw
yerS words were ringing in my ears. In the dark
all at once thought could see the torrent OF
broken Ice, the great blocks and sheets OF pointed
Jagged Ice, lifting themselves into one huge wall
and sweeping round the bend and up the
land, pushed by the mighty swelling OF the
tide behind-mounung, grinding, sweeping across
all this low interval, over which IL would crash
and pour and How, 10 find the nver at point be-
low and reach the sea. The rush Of the great
black cold waters was already upon me, the sound
OF them IN my ears, the blowing OF the wide dark
water breath i felt myself a helpless straw be-
Tore them. ! Old not wait an instant. i never
any thought at all: but i screamed, and turned
and dashed out OF the house and down the lane
as last, Is breathiesSly as 1 could race through
the mlre and Siush, and up the narrow road into
the wood, 1eeiug still that chill water breath
blowing ON me, hearing the terrible sound OF the
rdSplhS, pilinS, tunDung, roaring ice, and never
stopped TIL feti painting and GREATNESS and
falntlnS at somebody's Feet with the warm breath
OF great stag hound IN my face, and was being